Choosing the Right Vendor to Reflect Your Company

March 28th, 2011

Today’s post is by Mark Davis; Vice President of Operations and CTO at SafeSourcing. Mark asks "Are your sourcing partners’ values and mission statements in line with yours?"

In a recent retail headline, Safeway, a California-based grocer with over 1,700 stores, announced their plan to have a channel of fresh and frozen seafood product that is sustainable and traceable, or in a process to reach that goal, by 2015.

It begs the question, “What are your vendors doing to better the planet in a way that goes beyond the products they deliver? Are their values and Mission Statements mirroring what your business believes?”

In Safeway’s case, they had a strong company belief in sourcing product that came from sources that can maintain or increase production in the future without negatively affecting the environment with which it is coming from. They also had a strong desire to be able to trace that product back to its source for safety reasons. These values led them to select a partner who is helping them assure all of the companies they do business with also have these values and practice them in their business.

They are one of the first retailers to make a commitment of this magnitude with more expected to follow.

In order to ensure this same type of synergy between your company its sources, you should ask yourself:

• How much do I know about the core values of the companies I do business with?
• Do my vendors know anything about my company’s core values or Mission statement?
• Are my suppliers doing everything they can to provide safe and green products?
• Are there other suppliers I could be using that are making strides in this area that mirror the things my company wants to do?
• Are my RFI/RFP processes collecting this kind of information from the vendors?

To help you with answers to these questions or to provide you with a deeper pool of environmentally responsible companies with which to work with, please contact a SafeSourcing customer service representative today.